Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Gone to young girls, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone to young men, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young men gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone to soldiers, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?

And where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, a long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?

And where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, every one!
When will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?

1 Comment

My InterpretationThere are too many versions of the lyrics! But the basic premise is always the same. Long ago, young girls picked all the flowers. These girls have since grown up and married. Their husbands have fought in the war, died and been buried. But now we can't find their graves, because flowers have grown over them. But this just brings us back to the question of where said flowers are.

You could look at it another way, in which the final verse provides an answer to the original "where have all the flowers gone?" question: they're now over the graves of deceased soldiers.